Process of drying cornstarch and similar materials



Aug. 24; 1943. L. P. TIERS 2, 2

7 P JCESS OF DRYING CORNSTARCH AND SIMILAR MATERIALS Filed March 10, 19:59

STAT-ES.

PROCESS OF DRYING CG SIMILAR MAT Louis P. Tiers. Wilmette, 111., MO! to Erootor & Schwartz, Incorporated, Pol". Pa a corporation Pennsyl AppllcnflonMal'oh 10, 1939 Sl No. 261,095

Claims.

heirleh repiolly under who o oitioho.

o loioyvii, hereto/tore, to extrect-the set or" eooeoiis hulls oi reflrieol e constituent composeii oi o o title eyocootor for the liquid and with felt or suitable filter hleoh or? Silt-H221 to in o loyer oi con=- M. the rlriiro revolves with the portion. thereof ciihooergeol to e desirable e the corrects hull: contehiiriy the fills- ..l particles of starch; and to scrohe the hi to or lees eolirlirieri layer of starch subsequent the outer sorta-ic oi the filter hlet rloctor liioole extending ocross orlol melting or. with the toll width thereof. The mote=- tho e, removed from the filter rlr hos been eloceri in treys which were loerlecl on trucks cool 1 triielze moved intermittently through long tiiooelt, whereirl oir Wes circulated to of "ooloocet the moisture content of the surroundlog-r etrooephere. Therefore, the above reference to evoporetion of excess moisture from the storch denotes extrectioh to e percentage substantially etool to the moisture content of the surround inc atmosphere which might range from zero, in completely ory'oir, to 9. normal percentage oi from it to as notefl alcove.

Removal of the filtered starch, which is normally in the form of r. layer from to V2 inch in thickness, from the drum by the doctor blade, results in the starch being broken up into pieces oi extremely irr .1 sizes and shapes wt irom tree ely divided poles to sheets or on to the copeng opplicetlon of (or. icy-r1) severe! sc uere inches in area. Such circumstances ere not conducive to economical drying, es the ely divided perticlw cod smaller pieces in e. given length of drying time, or predeterhecl conditions, will become tried to on extent below the normal moisture content or the otmoe ohere irate which the sterch will pets from the trier. The oterch necessarily will sohoeoiiehtly reoheorh holoricior omoimt oi moisture. While the Berger yieoer on heets oi etorch ore ot= proper rlegree oi moisture lore, i. e.

oi the lhiie, the coil he reeiiloteil to of theore mid? of moistoreezr t oi which mi ht he rerooverl he t r it the To overcome colw itioris. there by ororiece o. more economical ,irocees, the reh coming" from the hot rerloceei to o smell prior to drying. Such o, oee condition worse coiorlitiori, lo. reriocihg torch to iorro. orotliicerl on eseeeeiye amount of time which were scottereil toy t e rhyme em loot in oclrlitioii erected motor to lite oil-ti prop erty heooiise the hoe particle's when mired with oh: orcoloce very homoerotic erzoloelve.

Furthermore, the time yorticles clcsyerl the perforations lo the hottorhe oi the treys cool ore vented the drying iroro poetics "vertioolly through the moteriel the tro. thee rcterohoe drying eorl riieroptiog the uriiormity of trying for which the reduction of the steroh to groom-- lor form primarily introduced.

The present invention is directed to the climb notion of the ioreyoiog-z undesirable conditions onol hoterelo one! to this eml the present iriven= tiori cootemolotee the reelection of the wide layer of filtereol otoroh on the filter drum to e. multibefore the meter-lei is scraped from the "to: by the doctor time, whereby the ribbon will brook up into pieces oi opprorirnotely uniform timeosione end the production of finer normally caused by the breaking up of the storch by the riocto cleric in scraping the starch from the filter w. is reolucecl to o minimum; and whereby the drymg oi the uniform units marry to readily controlled to recloce the excess moisture to the proper degree without cverclryinc any of the prodnot, by which the drying of the built is rendered more economical.

,lllls. orecticioe the present invention, reference ill plicity or rilchoos oi substantially uniform widths being had to the single figure of the accompanying drawing which diagrammatically illustrates an apparatus capable of use with the process, the starch or similar material reduced to fine particles suspended in water or other suitable liquid, indicated at A, isplaced in a suitable vat or pan I, having an open top through which the lower portion of a suitable filter drum 2 extends to proper depth in the solution A. The drum 2 is mounted for rotation in this position and, as usual in this type of apparatus, is provided with a perforated peripheral surface having the perforations communicating with the hollow interior of the drum from which air and liquid are evacuated by any suitable form of evacuator through, for example, the supporting trunnions at one or the other or both ends of the drum, for which purpose the trunnions are made hol- 4 low, as shown.

drum.

While the layer a; is still in a more or less penetrable state it is scored circumferentially of the drum as indicated at 6, 6, substantially through to the underlying filter blanket or jacket 5, by laterally spaced scoring blades or needles 1, 1, which divide the sheet or layer a: into a plurality of ribbons y, y, of uniform relatively narrow widths. I

The ribbons y, y are subsequently engaged by a doctor blade 8, as the drum 2 rotates in the direction of the arrow thereon. The doctor blade breaks the advancing ends of the ribbons y, 1 off the supporting surface of the filter blanket 5 cleanly into pieces or units of substantially uni-. form lengths corresponding approximately to the widths of the ribbons, whereby the sheet x is reduced to more or less regular squares or rectangles z, z of substantially uniform thickness and approximately uniform areas, which avoids the formation of fines to any appreciable extent.

The units 2, a pass oh the doctor blade 8, by gravity, onto an-inclined chute 8 which is disposed with its discharge end slightly above an upper run ID of an endless foraminous belt conveyer which passes around a drum I l' and enters one end of a drying chamber l2. The foraminous belt l0 carries the units 2, 2, through the chamber 12 wherein the units 2 z, lying on the upper run of the foraminous conveyer are subjected to the moisture evaporating influence of currents of air or other suitable gaseous fluid circulated around the units a, z and through the openings of the conveyer, the units a, a being ultimately for evaporating excess moisture therefrom.

2. The process of drying starch and other substances of like characteristics wherein finely divided particles of the substance are suspended in a liquid, filtering out said fine particles in the form of a, penetrable sheet-like mass on a rotating filter surface, scoring the penetrable sheet discharged from the conveyer III at the opposite while on said filter surface to divide it into a series of ribbons, breaking the ribbons into units of approximately uniform lengths, and spreading the units to dry in the presence of a gaseous medium for evaporating excess moisture therefrom.

3. The process of drying starch and other substances of like characteristics wherein finely divided particles of the substance are suspended in a liquid, filtering out said fine particles on a rotating filter surface in the form of a penetrable sheet-like mass, scoring the, penetrable sheet while on the filter surface to divide it into a series of ribbons, scraping the scored sheet off the filter surface and thereby breaking the ribbons into units of approximately uniform lengths, and spreading the units to dry in the presence of a gaseous medium for evaporating excess moisture therefrom.

4. The process of drying starch and other substances of like characteristics wherein finely divided particles of the substance are suspended in a liquid, filtering out said fine particles on a rotating filter surface in the form of a penetrable sheet-like mass, scoring the penetrable sheet while on the filter surface to divide it into a series of ribbons, scraping the scored sheet off the filter surface and thereby breaking the ribbons into units of approximately uniform lengths, and spreading the units to dry on a foraminous support moving into and through a drying chamber in the presence of a gaseous medium for evaporating excess moisture therefrom.

5. The process of drying starch wherein finely divided particles of the starch are suspended in a liquid, filtering out said fine particles on a moving filter surface in the form of a penetrable sheet-like mass, scoring the sheet while on the filter surface to divide it into a series of ribbons, removing the scored sheet from the filter surface while breaking the ribbons into units of approximately uniform lengths, and spreading the units to dry on a foraminous support moving into and through a drying chamber in the presence of heated air for evaporating excess moisture therefrom.

- LOUIS P. 'I'IERS. 

